Plans to scrap NHS targets

22nd January 2007

NHS targets would be largely scrapped under a Conservative government, says Tory leader David Cameron.

Hospitals and trusts would no longer be measured on waiting times, and doctors would be given greater control to set priorities and budgets, said Mr Cameron. This would avoid distorting clinical decision-making to meet targets, he said.

Targets would make way for a new system which would measure the effectiveness of treatment and the health of patients following NHS intervention.

GPs would have more control through commissioning services for their patients, and there would be a shift away from ‘process’ to health outcomes, according to their new policy document drawn up with former Health Secretary Stephen Dorrell.

Mr Cameron said he wanted to see British survival rates for cancer, heart attacks and stroke exceed the European average.

The government countered the proposals, saying they would return the NHS to the long waiting times and two-tier system of a decade ago.